Law & Order

The fall TV scene continues to come into focus as NBC announced its season premiere dates today. premiere dates of its new Fall 2010-11 primetime schedule. The week of Sept. 20 will bring the debuts of new shows, “The Event,” “Chase,” “Undercovers,” “Law & Order: Los Angeles,” “Outsourced,” “Outlaw” and “School Pride.”

In addition, NBC again launches the NFL season with NFL Kickoff on Thursday, Sept. 9 when the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints host the Minnesota Vikings in a rematch of last year’s NFC Championship Game. “Sunday Night Football” and “Football Night in America” officially debut on Sunday, Sept. 12 when the Washington Redskins host the Dallas Cowboys.

Following are the premiere dates for NBC’s Fall 2010 primetime schedule:

It’s upfront week — the time when networks unveil their new shows — and say good-bye to a few old ones.

First out of the gate is NBC, which confirmed that, yes, “Heroes” is dead. Earlier in the week, NBC dumped venerable crime show “Law & Order,” but picked up the latest entry in the franchise — “Law & Order: Los Angeles,” which will air directly after “Law & Order: SVU” on Wednesday nights.

In a drastic change from last fall’s shunning of scripted shows (to make room for the failed Jay Leno experiment at 10), NBC ordered seven scrtipted dramas for fall, including a legal series starring Jimmy Smits and a crime procedural from Jerry Bruckheimer.

Putting all the speculation to rest, NBC has officially cancelled “Law & Order,” ending the show after 20 seasons.

But the “Law & Order” franchise lives on. NBC also renewed “SVU” and has ordered a new spin-off, “Law & Order: Los Angeles.” The franchise’s other spin-off, “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” continues to air its ninth season on USA Network.

With the cancellation, “L&O” will tie, instead of beat “Gunsmoke,” as TV’s longest-running drama series.

NBC is expected to announce a surprise programming strategy on Tuesday in which the network will move Jay Leno’s talk show to 10 p.m. weeknights when Conan O’Brien takes over the regular “Tonight Show” spot at 11:30 next June.

The move allows NBC to keep late night’s top-rated host in the fold — and away from competitors, such as ABC. It also provides O’Brien with what should be a solid lead-in when the switch happens.

On the other hand, it could be very risky. Putting Leno at 10 basically shakes up a prime-time network model that has been in existence for decades — with dramas leading into the the local late-night newscasts.
Will Leono’s audience follow him to 10? Or will they be creatures of habit and reject the new arrangement?

The move pairs “Life” with “Law & Order,” which launches its 19th season the same night.

In the first Wednesday episode of “Life,” a woman is found in a pool of blood sitting at a table with a romantic dinner set for two. The investigation leads Crews (Damian Lewis) and Reese (Sarah Shahi) to a support group for lottery winners full of eccentric characters. The detectives soon discover lottery winners often suffer broken psyches after suddenly becoming richer than they ever could have imagined. Meanwhile, Rachel (Jessy Schram) refuses to tell Crews anything about her familyâ€™s murder or about Jack Reese, however, the two unexpectedly realize they share a common bond. Erik Estrada (â€œCHIPsâ€) makes a cameo. Adam Arkin and Donal Logue also star.

Two more crime dramas are on tap this week — if you’re into that sort of thing.

If you haven’t been able to tell from my columns over the years, I’m not a huge fan of cop shows. I’ve just seen too many of them and they tend not to catch my eye unless they veer toward the offbeat — like “The Shield,” “The Wire,” or “Dexter.”

This week brings the debuts of “The Eleventh Hour” (CBS) and “Life On Mars” (ABC) and it’s the latter that breaks new ground — or old new ground. It’s a remake of the British hit about a modern-day detective who, after an accident, wakes up in 1973. And I’m happy to report that this time they didn’t lose the show in translation. In fact, I’m declaring it to be the best pilot I’ve seen so far this season.

Here’s my reviews from today’s papers:

It’s easy to mock CBS’ relentless obsession with murder procedurals. Judging from all the homicidal mayhem occurring nightly on the network’s airwaves, you might think its call letters stand for Corpses, Bodybags and Stiffs.

But can you really fault CBS for a lack of creative ambition? Cops and killers, after all, tend to generate robust Nielsen numbers. Conversely, it seems as if anytime the network tries to color outside the lines with something such as, say, vampires (“Moonlight”), sex-addicted suburbanites (“Swingtown”) or nuclear calamity (“Jericho”), it crashes and burns. Continue Reading →